And on Friday night, the trio held a small dinner gathering for family, friends and neighborhood residents. "We're still trying to figure out the space, and like all kitchens, this one has quirks, but everything went great," says Broening. "Yasmin and I are really excited to be doing hand-crafted, Italian-influenced food, and I don't think anyone is doing the caliber of desserts and gelato that we're doing here," he adds.

The cafe, which officially reopened today at 11 a.m., continues to offer the incredible popsicles and gelato that originated with Parisi (Lozada-Hissom is now doing those, too, with all-natural ingredients), and throughout the week, Spuntino, which also features wines from Infinite Monkey Theorem, Boxcar coffee from Boulder, charcuterie, housemade pastas, beautiful salads, bruschetta and desserts, will be giving away free gelato samples.

"We love the Highland neighborhood, and we want to be a great spot where people can hang out. We want to give our best to the people who live here by offering them a place to come in for great coffee and really good, housemade food, and we thought we'd kick off the opening by giving away scoops of gelato," says Lozada-Hissom.

I had the opportunity to try several flavors of gelato last week, along with dishes from Broening's menu, and -- no surprise -- everything I sampled was terrific. Herewith, photos from the feast.